Westminster notes
High air passenger duty
Ian Paisley Junior has called for a UK-wide reduction in air passenger duty. Paisley said that “there is no doubt that a UK-wide move on air passenger duty for all flights would be a huge boost for the economy.” The UK’s high rate compared with the rest of Europe disadvantages it, he said, “particularly regions such as Northern Ireland which are even more reliant on air transport.”
The DUP MP also welcomed a British Airways commitment to Northern Ireland given by International Airlines Group (holding company of British Airways) Chief Executive Willie Walsh at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. Walsh said that BA’s return to the province had been made possible by acquiring additional slots at Heathrow through the acquisition of bmi.
At the committee hearing into an air transport strategy for Northern Ireland, Alliance’s Naomi Long said that the duty was suppressing growth because of its added burden on business and tourism. It is an unfair tax, as people are charged twice when flying through hub airports, she added.
Lady Sylvia Hermon suggested that the Northern Ireland Executive could absorb the cost of lost revenue if air passenger duty on domestic flights were abolished, given its supposed harm to the local economy. Walsh disagreed but reiterated his belief that the duty should be completely scrapped.
Local influence in Lords
Lords Trimble, Glentoran and Ballyedmond may have held vague hopes that their phones would ring before David Cameron’s reshuffle given a previous statement that he wanted people from all parts of the UK in his government (see issue 47, page 115). The three local peers take the Conservative whip. Lord Trimble does already holds a position of influence through his chairmanship of the Conservative peers’ liaison group on foreign and Commonwealth policy.
The Association of Conservative Peers (the Lords’ equivalent to the 1922 Committee) established 15 liaison groups in 2011 to shadow government departments. They were formed in response to the demands of coalition and government defeats in the House of Lords in 2010. Chairs are the equivalent of Commons parliamentary private secretaries: the eyes and ears of ministers in the chamber.
Durkan slams Clegg on reform
The SDLP’s Mark Durkan has strongly criticised Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s efforts on political reform. The comments followed the announcement that £557,000 has been spent on the Northern Ireland constituency boundary review, which is now unlikely to be implemented.
Clegg’s Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act (to reduce the Commons to 600 seats and hold the 2011 AV referendum) has entailed “the public expense of boundary review, preparation and consultation, which have little viable prospect and always lacked valid purpose.”
While wanting a smaller Commons, Durkan had opposed “the unrealistic and insensitive strictures on how boundaries were to be determined.” The boundary revision proposed reducing the number of constituencies here from 18 to 16.
